This Week In Favs……….

I hope everyone had a safe and fun 4th! I know I did ‘cause I got some major editing done…just in time for the fireworks too!

It’s been such a busy and exciting week in the blogosphere that I had a hard time choosing what was going to make the list, but here it is!

10) “Half Over?” by Katie on KT’s Korner. Kudos to Katie for putting her 2011 goals out there for the world to see! This got me thinking about my goals for 2011. I’m a total list person, due to my OCD, but something different happened on 12/31/10. When I rang in the new year, I didn’t really set too many because, well, normally when I do, I never meet them. If I don’t write them down, then I surpass the ones that were sitting in the back of my head the entire time. So, going with my ‘unspoken’ goals for the year, I’d say that I’m doing pretty good. I’ve made a real effort to work-out more (I’m 6’1” and I weigh 168.2 as of this morning – ha!), I’ve dove back into my writing, and I’ve continued to surround myself with positive people everyday. That’s all I wanted in 2011. Nothing too grand but not too small.

9) “Death by Critique – 6 Tips on How to Avoid It” by Roni Loren. Ahhh…. the elusive over-editing that can shred your novel and its characters into nothing more than empty words on the page. This is one for my book of writing and editing tips: the article minus the super-scary picture (no, not the grim reaper – the other one).

8) “When Your Character Doesn’t Act Like Herself” by Lisa Gail Green of Paranormal Point of View. I don’t behave the same way in every situation or surrounding, and I’m sure that you don’t either. Lisa’s post reminds writers to stay true to their MC(s). They’re people like the rest of us, fictional people, but people nonetheless. My MC, Avalyn, was in the back of my head, screaming “told ya so” on one particular scene when I *almost* kept her calm and reserve. She told me she really needed to just let it all hang out and go off on someone, so that’s what she got, and it worked beautifully. Needless to say, good ol’ lefty is on the lookout for when her actions in certain scenes don’t match up to her character arc.

7) “Voice Tips from the Pros” by Becca Puglisi from The Bookshelf Muse. These ladies have some of the best writing tips out there in the blogosphere! I remembered perusing their thesauruses for hours when I first discovered their blog, and here I am, several months later, super-excited to share one of their awesome posts that hit it home for me this week. Now, I don’t write YA, though I do read it from time to time, so not every pro’s tip was exactly perfect for me, but they each led to something more right for me in my adult paranormal/fantasy world. My MC has a voice and it does leap from the page, but guess what? I want more! So I started interviewing not just my MC, but all of my characters because they each have an individual voice that needs to be heard.

6) Congratulations are in order for Tina Moss! *throws confetti* She and Yelena Casale (her co-writer)’s MS, BLOOD BOND, placed 1st in Central Florida’s RWA Touch of Magic contest (Paranormal category)!! The final round judge, Meredith Giordan, an editor at Berkley, “…thought our main characters were very likeable, that the hook grabbed her attention, and would love to read the full MS.” I’m just as excited as Tina for Ms. Giordan’s use of the word love. This is a huge accomplishment!! Congratulations again, Tina! You rock!!!!

5) Another So You Think You Can Dancegoodie! This week, the performances were great, so I had a hard time choosing. Okay, well not really. The Top 7 Guy Dancers were my choice the moment I saw their routine (which was within the first 20 minutes of the show). I love the power in their bodies and how they use it to express the emotion and movements of the music – which is Prague by Damien Rice – another song for my ever growing playlist!

4) “Why It’s Hard to Be A Writer” by Scott Tracey. Now this is a writer after my own heart! Yes, it’s hard to not only write, but finish a novel, revise said novel, to read and accept a bad critique, and it’s hard to find an agent. But we writers, we do it because we love to write. Period! Scott states this beautifully in this post and he’s right: “The best that any of us can hope for is to keep our head up. Because there’s nothing we’d rather do than write. And writing is the easy part.”

3) “The Green Lantern Movie: How *Not* to Plot a Story” & “The Green Lantern Movie: How *Not* to Write Characters” from Jami Gold. Wow! Can I just say that this post saved me some $$ AND offered great writing tips?!?!? I have to commend Jami for these two posts. When I saw Transformers 3 this past Sunday, I never even thought too much on the plot or the characters (Oh God! Sam was hilarious in the beginning of the movie), and that’s just because when it comes to Transformers, for me, it doesn’t matter. Now that I’ve read Jami’s posts, I’ve gone through the movie in my head, over and over again. Now, I want to watch a couple of bad movies I’ve watched recently…just so I can pick apart the ‘why’s’ on how they didn’t work.

2) “Fireworks” by Donald Maass. I’ve always followed, heeded, and taken action with everything that Mr. Maass has written. My copy of “Writing the Breakout Novel” has highlights galore on its pages. Needless to say, my left brain is soooooo loving this post from him and eagerly seeking out those events, characters, sentences, and entrances/exits, and looking for ways to work with my right brain in making them explode and come alive, just like the Macy’s fireworks display in NYC this past Sunday night. (and if you haven’t read about my Right vs. Left peace treaty, check out yesterday’s post)

1) It’s time for a Simon’s Cat treat! I haven’t posted one of these since my first post and a new one was posted two weeks ago: “Hidden Treasure”.

Thanks so much for blogging about our news! 🙂 Congrats on also getting major editing done. No easy task. I am also a BIG fan of So You Think You Can Dance. I’ve been known to bounce around my house in a strange imitation of dance…when no one is home. LOL

Roni: You’re most welcome! Yes, that really was scary…it haunted me for the rest of the day! LOL

Lisa: Aaww… you’re welcome. Glad you and your kids loved the video! Simon’s Cat is hilarious and I’m amazed at how he captures a cat’s personality so perfectly. 🙂

Tina: You’re welcome! Congratulations again!! Yay! Another SYTYCD fan! I often find myself trying to do some dance moves I’ve seen on the show also. They’re not as elegant, but sooo much fun to try! LOL